SPYL’s Nekundi to pay a quarter of a million for slanderous claim

A SLANDEROUS statement made by Swapo Party Youth League member Veikko Nekundi against Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Veiccoh Nghiwete will cost Nekundi a quarter of a million Namibia dollars, as well as extra legal costs.

Nekundi failed to defend a defamation case that Nghiwete instituted against him in the High Court in early April. As a result of this inaction on his part, Nekundi was yesterday ordered by Acting Judge John Manyarara to pay N$250 000 to Nghiwete for the damage he caused to the long-serving diplomat’s reputation through remarks that he made at a press conference in Windhoek on March 26.The N$250 000 awarded to Nghiwete is the highest amount awarded by a Namibian court in a defamation case to date.Nekundi declined to comment when contacted yesterday afternoon. He said he was not aware of the judgement given against him, and needed to first see it before making any comment – including saying why he did not defend the case.DINNER PARTYAt the press conference on March 26, Nekundi – who is the SPYL’s secretary for economic affairs – announced that the ruling party’s youth league was calling foran investigation of what he claimed had been a meeting between the German Ambassador to Namibia, the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, and ‘some senior officials in the Swapo Party Government’. These officials included the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs and the Director General of the National Planning Commission.Nekundi also claimed that the youth league had been tipped off that the people mentioned by him were discussing ‘strategies to cause national destruction and confusion’.It was especially the latter part of the statement made by Nekundi that prompted Nghiwete to sue him.In actual fact, Nghiwete and other invited guests had attended a dinner hosted by the German Ambassador to Namibia, and neither Nghiwete nor the other guests – which included Prime Minister Nahas Angula and other political figures – had any control over the guest list for the event.Nekundi also added that the youth league had lost confidence in the officials mentioned.LIBERATION CREDENTIALSIn the claim he filed against Nekundi 12 days after the press conference, Nghiwete stated that the remarks made by Nekundi were understood to mean that Nghiwete had engaged in meetings that undermine the Government and the ruling party of Namibia, that he had conspired with a representative of a foreign government to engage in treasonous activities against Namibia, that he was involved in high treason and sabotage against Namibia, and that he was not a fit and proper person to serve as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Acting Judge Manyarara recounted in the judgement given yesterday that Nghiwete told the court that he joined Swapo in 1969. He went into exile in 1974, joined the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia, and became a senior commander in Plan. After being injured in a landmine explosion in 1979, he was deployed to the office of the chief administrator of Swapo. After Independence, he was one of the first ambassadors to be appointed to represent Namibia in another country.Nghiwete also testified that he knows Nekundi and believes that the SPYL member is below the age of 35. This would mean that Nekundi had not even been born yet when Nghiwete joined Swapo, Acting Judge Manyarara noted.According to Nghiwete, he found the statement that he attended a meeting to discuss strategies to sabotage the Republic of Namibia ‘to be most damaging to his integrity and reputation which he values greatly and to his status and position of leadership’, Acting Judge Manyarara remarked.RECORD AMOUNTUntil yesterday, the highest amount of money to be awarded by a Namibian court in a defamation case was N$175 000, which the owner, editor and printer of weekly newspaper Informanté were ordered to pay Windhoek Mayor Matheus Shikongo at the end of January this year as a result of a report in which Shikongo was claimed to have been involved in an underhanded and dishonest land transaction.In his view, Acting Judge Manyarara stated, the case involving the statements that Nekundi made about Nghiwete is even more serious than the Shikongo matter.He remarked: ‘(Nekundi) has demonstrated total disregard of the magnitude or seriousness of (Nghiwete’s) claim by disregarding the proceedings altogether and the costs implications in the event of the action against him succeeding.It is aggravating that (Nekundi) made no effort whatsoever to contact (Nghiwete) about the veracity of the statement prior to publication in the light of its serious implications, for (Nghiwete) personally and Namibia’s hard earned political integrity.’Acting Judge Manyarara said he found no reason to interfere with the amount of N$250 000 that Nghiwete was claiming from Nekundi.He also ordered Nekundi to pay Nghiwete’s legal costs in the case on an attorney and client scale – which is a more punitive costs order than an ordinary costs award.Senior counsel Dave Smuts, instructed by Hartmut Ruppel of LorentzAngula Inc, represented Nghiwete.